Various swiveling hose couplings are known. Among such, some fire hoses swivel and have balls to assist therewith. See also, Harle, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/919,379 filed on Aug. 28, 1997, the specification of which is incorporated herein by reference, and which discloses a full flow and/or locking connector/quick-disconnect coupling. One shortcoming of the foregoing is that a rather full complement of balls is required in any groove intended to hold them to assist in swiveling; otherwise, the swivel may become unbalanced, and even seize up. Such a problem may be solved by supplying the full complement of balls; however, so many balls, although not expensive, nay be dropped in installation, which may cause problems, especially if installed in the field.
Compare, Lauffenburger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,593, which discloses a fluid-conveying coupling with safety locking device. Kemppainen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,570, which discloses a coupling; Chen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,697, which discloses a fitting with two tubular members rotatable relative to each other. The above-mentioned patents to Lauffenburger, Kemppainen, and Chen, the specifications of which are incorporated herein by reference, although they disclose couplings which are rotatable during set up, do not disclose swiveling couplings which are "live swivels," i.e., couplings which can readily swivel during use under high pressure.
Other problems in the art exist. For example, debris from a gasket or an epoxy seal may interfere or adulterate the material being transferred through a coupling. Seals, i.e., sealing, especially with respect to metal hoses, may be difficult to obtain. Stainless steel hoses may rotate undesirably, or break if welded. In general, field repairability may be problematical if not out of the question.
It would be desirable to improve upon the same.